Detroit Pistons center Slava Kravtsov, left, works offensively against the Brooklyn Nets' Brook Lopez in the first half Wednesday.AP Photo

AUBURN HILLS -- The Detroit Pistons used a patchwork interior rotation forced by fouls, injury and performance, and it proved just enough for the Brooklyn Nets to hand them a 93-90 loss Wednesday.

With Andre Drummond ailing and limited to four minutes, Jason Maxiell saddled with five fouls and Charlie Villanueva missing shot after shot, the Pistons went with two unlikely players extensively in the fourth quarter: Slava Kravtsov and Jonas Jerebko.

Jerebko played down the stretch in a fourth quarter with 11 lead changes and six ties. His tip-in brought the Pistons within 86-85 and a 20-foot jumper made it 88-87.

The Pistons (18-32) never drew even again in their fifth loss in six games, and second this year to the Nets (29-20), who beat them in a double-overtime heartbreaker Dec. 14.

Greg Monroe split a pair of free throws with 33.6 seconds left to bring them within 89-88. Brook Lopez answered with a powerful post move against Monroe to extend the Nets' lead back to three.

Monroe scored inside to make it a one-point game again with 10.4 remaining. Joe Johnson responded with a pair of free throws at 8.8 to make it 93-90.

Will Bynum forced a challenged corner 3-pointer at the buzzer but it came up short of the rim.

HIGHLIGHTS

--Slava Kravtsov got the earliest playing time of his career when Drummond's back issue and Maxiell's three first-quarter fouls pushed the Ukrainian into action with 8:21 left in the second quarter. Kravtsov scored four points on a dunk and a very nice post move against Brook Lopez, the latter after rebounding his own miss, which was his only rebound of the half. He also committed three fouls in that time. He returned with 15 seconds left in the third quarter and started the fourth. He officially played 11 minutes, with four points and two rebounds.

--Monroe had yet another double-double with 23 points and 10 rebounds. He shot 10 of 16 from the floor.

--Jose Calderon, in his second game as a Piston, had eight points and nine assists.

LOWLIGHTS

--Drummond played just 4:41 because of an ongoing back issue. He collected a blocked shot and two assists, but clearly wasn't himself and had difficulty keeping up with Lopez. Drummond initially hurt the back in Sunday's game against the Los Angeles Lakers, then played just eight minutes Monday at New York.

--Reggie Evans had his second double-double of the season for the Nets with 10 points and 14 rebounds. It was his second double-figure scoring game of the season. He scored 11 points in a Jan. 25 loss at Memphis.

--Mirza Teletovic uncorked three consecutive air balls for the Nets in the fourth quarter.

--Villanueva shot 1 of 8 from the floor, 0 of 4 on 3-pointers, in 16 minutes.

ISSUE OF THE DAY: FINAL VERDICT

The Pistons have some adjustments to make but of the three starting positions affected by last week's trade, the one that seems to most intrigue fans is how Brandon Knight adapts to playing shooting guard.